January 22, 2019

Top 10 at Oscars 2019

The Oscars will be handed out on the 24th of February this year (25th morning for us in India). There are twenty categories for fiction feature films and as many as thirty-two films have earned a nomination or more. But the following ten movies have grabbed almost two-thirds of these nominations and hence watching these ten is essential to make some sense of the upcoming Oscar ceremony. Here you go:

Black Panther (seven nominations, including Best Picture): Also for Production Design, Costume Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Score and Original Song.

BlacKkKlansman (six nominations, including Best Picture and Director): Also for Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Original Score. This is the legendary filmmaker Spike Lee's first directing nomination. He is also nominated as one of this film's producers and writers.

Bohemian Rhapsody (five nominations, including Best Picture): Also for Lead Actor, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The film has already won Golden Globes for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor (Drama) for Rami Malek.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (three nominations): Also for Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay.

Cold War (three nominations, including Best Director): Also for Cinematography and Foreign-Language Film (from Poland). Cinematographer Lukasz Zal was nominated for 'Ida' as well.

The Favorite (ten nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director): Also for Lead Actress, two nominations for Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, and Film Editing. Olivia Colman has already won the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy).

Green Book (five nominations, including Best Picture): Also for Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing. The film has already won Golden Globes for Best Picture (Comedy) and Best Supporting Actor. Viggo Mortensen earns his third nominations after 'Eastern Promises' and 'Captain Fantastic'. He hasn't won yet.

Roma (ten nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director): Also for Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Foreign-Language Film (from Mexico). The film has already won Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Foreign-Language Films. Alfonso Cuaron has won two Oscars for 'Gravity' (2013) - directing and editing. We expect more trophies will be added to his shelf this year.

A Star is Born (eight nominations, including Best Picture): Also for Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing and Original Song. Bradley Cooper has had three acting and a producing nominations before this film. Here he is nominated as the lead actor and one of the producers and writers. Will he win his first trophy?

Vice (eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director): Also for Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Film Editing and Make-Up. Christian Bale has already won the Golden Globe for Best Actor (Comedy). Director Adam McKay has won an Oscar for the screenplay of 'The Big Short' (2015). Amy Adams earns her sixth nomination, still looking for a win.

Also watch 'First Man', 'Mary Poppins Returns', 'If Beale Street Could Talk', 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' and 'Isle of Dogs' and you have covered more than eighty percent of all nominations. I have watched ten of these movies and I have a little less than five weeks to watch the remaining five. Hope they get big screen release in India.

P.S. I started the 'Must Watch' recommendations in September 2010. Before that I had watched several movies that must feature in this list. But in order to save myself from the useless and predictable exercise of recommending all great movies, I decided to follow a simple eligibility criterion: The movies recommended here would be among those I watched or re-watched since September 2010. So please do not be surprised if 'Cinema Paradiso' or 'Apocalypse Now' (which are, in my opinion, definite Must Watch) do not feature in here. They will find a place in the list the day I re-watch them.